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How much would you pay for a 20,000 sq ft neoclassical mansion close to London’s Buckingham Palace, complete with an underground extension and private formal gardens — not to mention the swimming pool, gym, spa and staff quarters?

People without the taste for political intrigue may have had enough of conversations about Brexit, but there is an appetite for news about its impact on the housing market, especially for tales of mansions struck by Brexit blight.

Boris Johnson has used some contentious turns of phrase. Aside from the extraordinarily witless remarks he made about burkas, he once compared female volleyball players in the 2012 Olympics to “glistening wet otters frolicking”.

It’s only 81 days until we crack open the mince pies and mulled wine, yet it takes an average of 60 days to agree a sale on a property, from the moment it is listed. So if you are you looking to sell your home before Christmas, you better get a move on.

Of all central London areas getting a Crossrail station, Whitechapel is the most likely to outperform in terms of property prices in the next five years, according to exclusive new research for Homes & Property.

Of all central London areas getting a Crossrail station, Whitechapel is the most likely to outperform in terms of property prices in the next five years, according to exclusive new research for Homes & Property.

Of all central London areas getting a Crossrail station, Whitechapel is the most likely to outperform in terms of property prices in the next five years, according to exclusive new research for Homes & Property.

CAMILLA DELL is managing partner and founder of Black Brick Property Solutions. Having worked for two of London’s largest and most successful estate agencies, Foxtons and Knight Frank, Camilla set up Black Brick in January 2007.

The property, a detached villa in Holland Park, went on the market at around £13 million. That valued the unmodernised property at around £2,500/square foot – a respectable price for a house in a desirable area, backing onto attractive communal gardens.

Take a look at any model on the cover of a magazine these days and you assume the image has been airbrushed to remove any blemishes: sadly, digital trickery has become an acceptable fact of life in the world of publishing.

Areas of the capital that attract international companies could see distorted price rises Lexington Street in Soho. Google is expanding its presence in nearby King’s Cross, Twitter has established European headquarters in Soho and Instagram has set up shop a short walk away in Covent Garden.

Areas of the capital that attract international companies could see distorted price rises Lexington Street in Soho. Google is expanding its presence in nearby King’s Cross, Twitter has established European headquarters in Soho and Instagram has set up shop a short walk away in Covent Garden.

Having a home near the water has always been important to Ben Hunt-Davis. The Olympic rowing champion, who won gold at Sydney in 2000, currently lives in a five-bedroom apartment moments from the Thames in Barnes, south-west London, with his wife, Isabella, teenage daughters, Sofia and Julia, and younger son, Luca.

The average cost of student digs across the country is about £88 a week, although in some areas of London parents are paying almost 100 times that to secure the best luxury accommodation for their offspring.

Black Brick is proud to be featured in the Chambers High Net Worth 2017 guide, as a professional adviser in the buying agents section of its UK chapter. Chambers, which researches and ranks the world’s top lawyers, last year launched its first guide aimed at the international private wealth market.

Alex Oliver has joined the Bruton Place-based agency as a buying consultant, after a successful stint at M&P’s Notting Hill office, where he was their highest-performing sales negotiator. He spent a couple of years at Foxtons before that, and has sold in excess of £50m worth of property to date.

House hunting for wealthy business people and foreign multi-millionaires is no easy job. One couple wanted a £10m house perfect for a chihuahua, “with no balcony and the right outside space”, while some superstitious buyers would only consider addresses with numbers “that didn’t mean death”.

People swoon when you tell them that you’re selling a five-bedroom house. How lovely, they say. Think of the space for children, the potential for guests. However, Britain’s “ideal home” for buyers now has just 3.5 bedrooms, according to the property website Zoopla. With the market in some areas almost static, sellers are forced to face a counterintuitive fact: abundant bedrooms can be a curse.

Buying agency Black Brick celebrated a record year in 2016, tripling its turnover to GBP3million. The company attributes its success to buyers seeking honest, impartial advice, about where best to invest their money during a time of market uncertainty in London.

Mayfair buying agency Black Brick has just finalised an interesting acquisition on Park Lane.In a departure from high-end house and apartment sourcing, the firm dug deep to secure an off-market bank vault next to the Dorchester for the South African owner of IBV International Vaults, Ashok Sewnarain, who has plans for a super-luxe storage concept.

The debate continues about the future of the housing market, with one economist forecasting disaster, while others believe that the average property price will rise this year. These predictions come as house price indices provide evidence of a slowdown.

Over 75 per cent of apartments in Hampstead are leasehold, whilst investors are cashing in by buying up freeholds in new builds throughout the capital. Here’s what you need to know about owning a leasehold property in north London.

The Russians are back buying luxury properties in central London and beyond. Favourable exchange rates and a rise in the price of oil mean that international buyers, particularly those from the Middle East and Russia, are spending millions on large homes in high-end neighbourhoods.

Clapham is not a straightforward neighbourhood. Unlike Dalston, it isn’t synonymous with hipsters; it isn’t known for its international wealth like Knightsbridge; and it isn’t the naturalised home of the English gent like Hampstead. It’s best described as a south London suburb that has welcomed wave upon wave of migration from other boroughs.

Rising house prices, together with stagnated salary inflation, have meant that more first time buyers are struggling to afford to get onto the property ladder, particularly in London where Hometrack data shows current property values are 85% higher than they were eight years ago. As a result, the “Bank of Mum & Dad” has become much more prevalent in helping their offspring onto the ladder, with the average hand out per child in London amounting to £24,800. So far this year, 20% of our clients have been buying for their children and we predict that this will increase by 10-15% over the next two years.

It’s hard not to think about the Monopoly board when considering what the most salubrious areas are in London. Park Lane and Mayfair may be the highest prized, but in reality, they’re being outstripped by a train station.

There are many reasons for buying a home: location, size and lifestyle all spring to mind. But equally important, though more elusive, is a sense of community. For Sarah and Justin Savage, who work in the theatre industry, that comes from a vibrant arts scene with pop-in-for-tea neighbours and a friendly local.

From 23-25 May, Clerkenwell Design Week will be upon us again. The annual event, with its artisan furniture makers and 3D-printing architects, will be the eighth celebration of the area’s transformation from post-industrial, City backwater to the home of more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

Barclays report names Camden as an investment hotspot for HNWIs for the next five years, with average house prices set to rise almost 34 per cent by 2021. But can we predict the result of next week let alone five years into the future?

In its heyday, dukes, dandies, artists and politicians all lived and socialised in St James’s, London. The district, convenient for both St James’s Palace and the Houses of Parliament, was the height of fashion. Gladstone, Sir Isaac Newton and William Thackeray all lived here.

In its heyday, dukes, dandies, artists and politicians all lived and socialised in St James’s, London. The district, convenient for both St James’s Palace and the Houses of Parliament, was the height of fashion. Gladstone, Sir Isaac Newton and William Thackeray all lived here.

Estate agencies are spending tens of thousands of pounds developing virtual-reality tours of high-end properties, so buyers can privately gaze at the interior of immaculate homes, including those yet to be built, in their own time.

A dedicated space for doing hair, nails and make-up is becoming a must-have in high-end homes
Donald and Melania Trump have been handed the keys to the White House. This means that, in keeping with tradition, the Trumps are allowed to make changes to the property to meet their family’s needs.

Some locations are defying a downbeat Brexit market — with revived urban areas leading the way even at the best of times there are no sure things in property — and with political and economic uncertainty as a backdrop, coupled with tax changes that have hit many buyers hard, this is far from the best of times. Nonetheless, there are silver linings amid the dark pall that has hung over the market since last spring.

The biggest talking point in 2017 will be triggering Article 50 to begin the process of Britain’s exit from the EU, and what immediate effect this might have on property prices and the value of sterling. We also predict that as new tax changes start to take hold for private landlords in April 2017 we may start to see some landlords sell their properties, but with a low interest rate set to prevail, any wide-scale sell-off will likely be avoided.

We are thrilled to be included in the 2016 eprivateclient Top 25 Residential Property Buyers for a third year. Eprivateclient is the leading website and news service for private client practitioners, including lawyers, accountants, trustees and fee-based IFAs. The aim of the initiative is to identify, recognise, introduce and promote the Top 25 Residential Property Buyers acquiring prestigious […]

When times get tough, commercial property provides the perfect backdrop. Abandoned office blocks, half-finished developments surrounded by barbed wire and cranes standing idly on the skyline: in an economic downturn, real estate is one of the first sectors to suffer.

According to independent property buying agency, Black Brick, low oil prices and a strong UK currency have made buying London residential property more expensive for those who have made their money overseas and are wishing to place it in the ‘safe haven’ of London property. However, until the reduction of tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages is announced in the July 2016 Budget, London remains an attractive option for buy-to-let investors, particularly those with a long term view of passing it on to their children.

Since 2009, more super-prime properties have traded hands in London than in any other city – will the bubble burst? Camilla Dells speaks at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit in London October 2015.

Within 12 hours of Greece defaulting on repayment of part of a loan to the International Monetary Fund, a prime central London buying agency issued a press release claiming it was seeing a rise in Greek clients. by Graham Norwood

We were thrilled to take home Best Property Adviser at the third edition of the Wealth Adviser Awards, presented on 15 May in London’s Mayfair, which brought together the leading names in the wealth management industry to celebrate the achievements of the best performing wealth managers and advisers in 2014. The awards were determined by […]

Experts say there has been a spectacular rise of a number of Africans in London – including those from South Africa – investing in London property. One leading estate agency claims London property purchases from Africans has risen as much as 400 per cent in the last year. Our UK correspondent Dan Whitehead

Affordable housing in Zone One is becoming something of a rarity in London, but look just south of the river and you’ll find one area in particular that’s still a decent prospect for first-time buyers looking for a good investment.

London — A gracious five-bedroom Victorian townhouse in a part of southwest London once associated with a faded shabbiness has benefited from the area’s considerable gentrification in recent years. By Nicola Venning

Outspoken and consistently outperforming, Camilla Dell is founder and MD of one of London’s most successful acquisition agencies, Black Brick. Here in conversation with PrimeResi, she discusses everything from driving a hard bargain to difficult toy dogs…

We are thrilled to have taken home gold in the “Best Buying Agent” category at the Estate Agency of the Year Awards 2014. The esteemed event, that celebrates the very best in estate agency, took place at The Lancaster Hotel on Friday, 5th December and was sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times.

Wealthy Nigerians spent over $390 million on property in London over the last 3 years according to new research. They are the biggest spenders out of the whole Africa – who, as a continent, spent over $938 million.

Unfavourable exchange rates and prospective tax changes have not deterred international buyers from buying expensive properties in central London, say property finders, as many prepare for one of their busiest Christmases ever, despite low levels of housing stock. by Francesca Steele

Some developers are taking a novel approach to finding new building sites in crowded central London, where period homes are prized: They are adding penthouses on top of existing buildings. by Art Patnaude

Car stacking systems or fingerprint recognition technology? A fizzy water tap or underfloor heating? High-techery is the future for luxury homes, but what buyers value most is security and practicality by Zoe Dare Hall

The residential lustre of London’s grandest quarter is once again gleaming, says Lisa Freedman, sparked by a £500m investment from the Crown Estate and myriad redevelopments that are stealing Mayfair’s limelight

We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded “Property Adviser of the Year” at the prestigious Spear’s Wealth Management Awards, held at The Savoy in London on Tuesday 29th October and presented by CNBC’s Ross Westgate.

Homebuyers fed up with gazumping in an increasingly competitive market may find buying property at auction an attractive alternative. Auction deals are concluded much more quickly, with contracts exchanged immediately; buyers also have peace of mind, knowing that they cannot be outbid after the auction. by Abhijeet Ahluwalia

A mystery Brunei billionaire is investing £500 million into transforming Queensway. The once grand Bayswater throughfare is set to become the Covent Garden of west London, with new apartments, refurbished luxury homes and a retail boulevard. By David Spittles

Demand for resi new-build is sky high and rising. CBRE revealed earlier today that the volume of such sales above £1,000 per square foot leapt by a whopping 240% over the last year and it’s been well-documented that South East Asian buyers have increasingly become a dominant force behind similarly remarkable figures, even shaping the way in which developers develop their schemes and marketeers market them.

The UK is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of HNWs making the move from Eastern countries, particularly China. Chloe Barrow finds out why AS UNATTRACTIVE AS living in the UK may be — the faltering economy, the unpredictable weather, sky-high living costs and seemingly hefty income tax — there is no denying its global popularity as a homemaking destination.

As more wealthy Asians seek to buy property overseas as an investment or short-term residence, their private bankers are only too happy to help. The wealth management divisions of banks are reporting a brisk business in setting up short-term revolving loans for property purchases. The term is usually five years, renewable annually after that, and the interest rate is set individually in accordance with the borrower’s credit profile.

As irresistable as the glossy brochures of large scale housing schemes may be, many home hunters might find a better deal if they focus on smaller, less high-profile developments. One attraction of these more humble projects is their “specialness” offering the chance to buy a “one off” flat, rather than clone of the other 199 apart-ments in the block.

Forget bunds, gilts or gold. London prime central residential property is emerging as the safest of all safe havens. If you want to know where those in the know put their personal savings, just talk to a real estate agent in London.

The Property Power List You can’t measure influence like you can cash in the bank. But the 25 entries on our list represent a cross-section of the most important people working in the selling and buying of British homes. It includes those who work in the property field day-to-day, as well as those who exert […]

Luxury-home prices in central London rose the most in 10months as overseas buyers seeking the safety o f one of the world’s most resilient property markets propelled demand, Knight Frank LLP said in a report today.

The residential property market in the Prime Central London (PCL) area will remain bullish in 2012, spurred by demand from foreign investors looking for a safe haven amidst uncertain global market conditions, said UK real estate agents and property consultants.

London’s luxury market saw prices increase for a 14th consecutive month in December 2011 as overseas property buyers slugged it out to buy “safer” investments and to compete in a sector that is beginning to suffer from a severe lack of stock, international agency Knight Frank LLP told OPP this week.

INVESTMENTS into strata-titled office, retail and industrial units in Singapore, as well as overseas homes, are set to pick up as investors search for alternative assets to buy following fresh government measures to cool the residential market here.

Proposals unveiled last week by the government to boost the housing market — including a scheme to help encourage the return of 95% mortgages — are, as ever, directed towards the new-build market, which is, at present, turning out less than half the number of properties required.

SINGAPOREAN buyers now account for around 10 per cent of all purchasers at ‘new-build’ properties in Central London, industry players say.
According to estimates from sales agents at major property firms, buyers from Asia make up about 40 per cent of all investors for new-build projects (that is, projects where construction hasn’t begun) in Central London.

It is a well rehearsed fact that, since the downturn, the rich are getting richer. According to a recent report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, the number of millionaires across the globe grew by 8.3 per cent to 10.9m in 2010. The total wealth of these individuals rose to $42,700bn, up from $40,700bn in 2007.

The Exchequer is losing millions in tax revenue as more top London homes are traded behind scenes through offshore companies. Demand for property in the best postcodes, much of it from foreign investors seeking a safe haven for their money, has continued to push up prices in prime London locations, bucking the national downward trend.

It used to be that when London did well, the rest of the country did well a year later. Not any more Graham Norwood reports on the UK’s “Two Markets” Like rolls of a camera film and coin-operated phone boxes in the street, the housing market has its share of nostalgic but outdated concepts. one […]

Vastu is the new feng shui – or, rather, the old one, given that some say the former inspired the latter.
… around 40 per cent of the world’s most expensive real estate is bought by Asian buyers for whom the “energy” of a house can be important – and vastu is already impacting on non-Asian design.

LONDON: In a district in north-west London that is a favourite nesting ground for bankers from all over the world, a premium housing project suddenly found itself making distress sales after the recession. They sold one flat to an Indian.

Luxury-home prices in central London rocketed upwards at their fastest rate of increase for a year during May. The pound’s weakness on the international currency exchanges helped to encourage a large number of overseas buyers to compete for a declining number of properties for sale, according to agency Knight Frank LLP.

Luxury-home prices in central London rose at the fastest pace in a year in May as the pound’s weakness encouraged overseas buyers to compete for a declining number of properties for sale, Knight Frank LLP said.

LONDON — It’s not usually until summer is in full swing that wealthy Arabs descend upon London, but this year, along with the unusually warm weather, the rich have come early. As the Arab spring sweeps across the region, Middle Easterners seeking refuge for their cash are snapping up million-pound properties in the British capital.

Chinese individuals are growing in wealth and stature. With this rapid increase there is a growing need for them to diversify their wealth. Lower rents and property values in the UK has made London an increasingly interesting prospect.

From the outside, Carrick Villa looks like a perfect neighbour for the rest of the architecture fringing Regent’s Park in central London.
The villa may be just two storeys, detached and with four bedrooms, but it is at one with the terraces laid out nearly 200 years ago by John Nash.

Arab businessmen, some connected with Middle Eastern regimes toppled by popular uprisings in January and last month, are buying London “boltholes”.
London estate agents Kay & Co has sold two homes to Middle Eastern businessmen since a popular revolt in Tunisia triggered anti-government uprisings across the Middle East.

…has begun to cool, and prices have started to flatten out, the rental market continues to be extremely active, which is good news for buy-to-let landlords and investors. The rental market has significantly changed over the last two years.

International buyers account for a considerable proportion of those spending money in London on property, from Hampstead to Mayfair.
For centuries, London has been a magnet for incomers from all over the world. The 17th century brought Huguenots, Sephardic Jews and the Irish; the 18th saw influxes from the Americas; and the revolutions of the late 19th century brought refugees from across Europe.

Home values plummet throughout the country as mortgages dry up, with only London’s high-end real estate escaping the trend
A mortgage lending squeeze will result in property prices falling across Britain, but London’s most desirable residential districts will be least affected, analysts say.

Scope for capital appreciation and popularity among overseas investors drive demand for units in UK capital’s posh neighbourhoods.
Even the world’s top property markets have their ups and downs. Despite central London’s reputation as one of the safest property markets around, the wealthy residents and property owners of Mayfair and Knightsbridge in July experienced a phenomenon the rest of the world knows only too well: negative equity.

The London property market has long attracted buyers from around the world. If we take a look back to when the market last crashed in the 1990’s, the crash was much more drawn out than the price falls we have witnessed this time around.

London has long been one of the world’s truly global centres. The financial powerhouse of Europe, the UK’s capital is home to some of the most prestigious real estate around and has been a consistent location of choice for investors in the Gulf looking to put their money into overseas property.

The number of nationalities buying property in London has risen by two-thirds since 2008. The pound’s weakness enabled buyers from 51 nations to buy property in the British capital in June. Chinese and Vietnamese are among the new investors.

Despite a slowdown of the property market in many parts of the UK, there are always areas where competition for properties is more intense. London is the obvious example but there are others – anywhere with tight planning restrictions and where owners tend to hang onto their properties rather than selling them and ‘moving up the ladder’.

Buried beyond the wrought iron gates and tree-lined façades of mansions in fashionable locales of prime London lie the real gatekeepers of the ultra-wealthy: the guards hidden among the shadows; the microphones, pressure pads and sensor beams that criss-cross the gardens…

Investors in the stock market, or in assets such as art or wine, rarely hesitate to seek professional advice, so it is hard to understand why there are investors in the property market who fail to seek proper guidance – especially as it is likely to be one of the biggest financial transactions of their lifetime.

Summer is here, the much derided home information packs are gone, house prices are slowly returning to their 2007 peak and you have decided to put your home on the market. This time, however, it is different – you have recession wary and double-dip conscious buyers to contend with.

Something we have all learned over the last two years, and most recently with the election result, is that nothing is ever certain. The mantra ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ is now perhaps more relevant than ever, particularly where money matters are concerned.

The question of what makes the best kind of investment is one that we are regularly asked by our clients – both domestic and overseas. In general our clients are inclined to favour new build on the basis that this is a style they are both familiar and comfortable with.

Looking back over 2009, despite the huge economic downturn, it was an unusually strong year for property prices. Prices rose substantially across the UK and recent Nationwide figures show the annual rate of growth has now risen to 8.6 per cent, up from 5.9 per cent in December — the highest rate of growth for two years.

Most homes are bought and sold on the open market, using an estate agent whose job it is to get as many serious viewers as possible through the door. Sellers put up with a stream of strangers – scrutinising the plaster, opening the cupboards and making comments about the decor – because they know they have to in order to achieve a sale, hopefully at a decent price.

Supremely wealthy, an Arab businessman is being shown round a mansion on The Bishops Avenue, the famous billionaire’s row in north London. It is an eye-watering property: it offers the ultimate in bespoke, knee-deep luxury, from the latest in security to lavish leisure facilities, intelligent domestic systems and, of course, a trophy location.

As a professional consultancy, our role is to guide our clients and managing expectations is an important part of this process. Some of our investment clients have a clear focus and vision of what they are trying to achieve; others are happy to be led and guided by us.

LONDON — A three-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot apartment recently went on the market in London’s fashionable Eaton Square and an Italian buyer immediately snapped it up for £5.65 million — a surprisingly quick sale in what has been a flat market.

A large proportion of the client base of Black Brick Property Solutions, one of London’s leading independent buying agents, comes from the Middle East, and one issue the company regularly comes across is the fact that these buyers tend to have a total aversion to buying property with a short-lease, and will usually only consider properties that are freehold or a share of freehold.

Despite recent excitement about price rises, the truth is that this seeming ‘improvement’ in the market is a symptom of a distinct lack of supply. On a day-to-day basis we are seeing the result of this unbalanced ratio between the number of buyers and the amount of housing stock available – one of which is the noted increase in sealed bid situations.

Britain’s curb on banking bonuses may stunt the recovery in London’s luxury-housing market by wiping out the windfalls that let buyers afford big mortgages, according to property brokers Knight Frank LLP and Savills Plc.

Adding extensions is a popular choice for those who need more space but don’t want to sell their house.
It will make your home more spacious, more easily sellable and possibly even more beautiful. An extension is one of the most valuable improvements you can make to your property, so long as you do it properly, accurately — and legally.

There have been mutterings this week that the house prices have already hit the bottom Nick Candy clearly things they have; estate agents in central London believe prices could have reached their lowest point as early as November last year. So does this mean we have all missed our chance to cash in on the downturn?

Improve, not move is the mantra of our recessionary times, especially for those with a Sarah Beeny-esque penchant for making bags of money from bricks and mortar. We are constantly assailed with advice about what to do to boost the value of our home, but what changes push prices down and make a property less attractive to a future would-be buyer?

Millions of us are glued each week to The Apprentice to see who will incur the wrath of Sir Alan.
For Camilla Dell, who runs London’s largest independent property-finding agency, Black Brick Property Solutions, watching the show is a reminder of why she started her own business.

Phil Spencer’s home-finding firm has gone bust, developers have downed tools worldwide and The Apprentice hopefuls include an estate agent seeking a career change. It doesn’t sound an ideal time to try to make a profit from property, does it? Yet we may look back on spring 2009 as the moment when we should have acted.

Buyers with cash in hand are in the best position to take advantage of the current climate. ‘Vendors are more likely to accept a lower offer on their property from a cash buyer than a higher one that’s subject to obtaining a mortgage,’ says Camilla Dell of London buying agency Black Brick Property Solutions. ‘Cash buyers are king.’

THE news this week that Garrington – the property search firm owned by Phil Spencer of television’s Location, Location, Location fame – has gone into administration, might lead some to believe that the age of the buying agent is at an end. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

London home sellers are accepting offers of up to 30 per cent below their asking prices, and Hong Kong buyers are among those taking advantage of the deep discounts and the added attraction of a collapse in the value of the British pound.

LONDON — After a go-go decade, Great Britain is suffering from a sudden, severe financial hangover. Now, however, the party has kicked into high gear for another group: foreign visitors and investors who are descending on London to take advantage of the plunge in the local currency and snap up high-end property, luxury cars and designer clothing at a discount.

The dramatic slide of sterling against the euro and other currencies since the start of last year has created big winners and big losers in the world of residential property. In the former category are international buyers in the UK, and especially in London, who are combining falling prices with improved exchange rates to secure deals that cost them 40-50 per cent less in their own currencies than they would have a year ago.

Although it seems that the UK residential property market is in freefall, there remains a demand for prestige London properties, especially amongst international clients, says Camilla Dell, managing director of Black Brick Property Solutions. She outlines how private banks can benefit from working alongside property search agents to offer clients a complete package for their financial and property needs.

As women rise meteorically through the ranks in business, competing for the US Presidency, becoming Prime Minister of the UK and other countries, occupying senior posts in medicine, science, the literary arena, corporate business and indeed without limits in any field, we look at some of the successful women in the property world.

The Government’s stamp duty incentive to encourage first-time and low-paid buyers back to the housing market is one week old – and it may be working, up to a point. It is too early to judge whether there are already more buyers, but a few sellers are cutting asking prices to ensure that their properties fall inside the new threshold, where homes at £175,000 and below are exempt from stamp duty.

Throwing in a free Mercedes with the sale of a luxury penthouse is nothing new, but it is getting more common. Against the backdrop of a rapidly weakening market, developers are having to work harder than ever to sell – often resorting to incentives that if it took place in the City might raise eyebrows.

With the gap between the super-prime and mainstream markets widening, so too is the differential between property types, says a new study.
As the number of property transactions fall, the quality of property becomes ever more crucial. This focus on ‘best in class’ will play a major role over the coming months, with ‘average’ property forced into greater discounts than their higher quality counterparts.

Like Oxford’s spires, British fee-paying schools evoke notions of educational perfection. For many affluent non-Britons, names such as Eton and Harrow share a pedigree with buildings such as Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s cathedral: traditional British institutions that cannot be out-sourced to China.

Rich international purchasers continue to underpin the London residential property market, according to Black Brick LLP, a specialist search agent that often works with private banks to source property for clients.

“There’s more stock across every sector but good properties are still incredibly hard to find. These are apartments on a first floor or above in the best buildings, or houses on the most desirable side of the square or street in sought-after areas,”

Tax changes are creating an exodus of foreign residents. Jessie Hewiston meets one American who has decided to get up and go.
All over London, the bags are packed and the tickets are booked. The ‘For Sale signs’ have gone up and the removal vans are parked out the front. The non-doms are on the move.

London still has the most expensive real estate in the world, with top-whack properties going for twice the price here as in New York, Hong Kong and thriving Moscow, according to research by Hamptons International.

“Women are now arguably being paid as much as or more than men in the professional world. Successful female bankers, hedge fund managers and saleswomen – particularly women in property – are creating a new single woman status, “says Camilla Dell

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Black Brick is a leading, independent buying agency, providing expert advice to buyers in London, the Home Counties and the South East. As Buying Agents, we only ever act for the buyer, giving you an unfair advantage and putting you ahead of the competition when it comes to securing the right property.

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